Improvement in button-fasteners



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.v

eEoRe'EA. nnncunn", or NEW YORK', N. Y.

Specification forming part ol' Letters Patent No. 34,595, dated April S, 1862.

Tall whom, it 71mg/ conce/'1l Be it known that. I, GEORGE A. MEALHAM, ot' the' city, county, and State of New York, have invented a cert-aiu new and useful (.oustruction ol' Eyes for Buttons 3 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description thereof, wh ich has been pref tons differently constructed in that feature to which my invention relates, but similarly constructed in all other features. Fig. i5 is a front View of the parts to which my invention relates, represented as exposed to vien" by the removal of the face or front. portion of the button.

All the figures areon a scale about four times as large as the buttons which I have successfully constructed in this manner, and similar letters of reference denote. like parts in all the figures.

My invention is applicable to all or nearly all of that large class of buttons in which iexible or cloth eyes are used, and its effect is to connect the cloth t-o the body of the button more strongly and uniformly than the ordinary means.

In my invention the cloth which is to form the eye is attached not directly to the body of the button, but to metallic parts, which parts,are subsequently embraced within the body of the button. .Such general principle Aof construction is shown in my patent dated the 2d day of -.Iuly,1861. In my said patent, dated J uly 2, 1861, the eye is left free to revolve within the body of th'e button, and obvious advantages accrue from such freedom 'of revolution; but an eye separately constructed maybe embraced tightly-ffithin the body of the button, so that itcanot revolve,

and in such a construction of button, equally.

in said patent,

as in my button described 4 my present improvement may be applied with good effect and so as-to obtain all the advantages of this'my present invention.

My invention-lies in the means whereby theeloth; is .secured to the'meta-llic parts oi' the eye. Fig. 1 represents the means formerly known,and Figs. 2 and 3 represent my present invention.

A represents the cloth front of the button, l5 the metallic plate over which-it is stretched,

andv (I the back-plate of the button. All these pertain to what I designate the body of the button.

D is the cloth portion ofthe eye. E is the metal part, which is confined within thebody of the but-ton in such manner als to revolve therein or not, as may be preferred.

In the drawings my button is represented in Fig. 2 as embracing the part E too tightly between .l and to allow of its ready revolution; but by increasing the space between IE and (l it may be set free and. made to act as described in my patent of 1861, aforesaid.

My present invention is entirely independent ot' such revolution or freedom -to revolve.

M is a circular plate introduced within I) and It previous to the bending inward of the edgesof E, and standing in such relation to those parts. that the cloth D is bent `around the edges of M in the manner represented. 'lhe edge or lip` of E is pressed down by suitable 'means upon D and M so as very'tightly to confine it, and by reason of the fact that the cloth Dis doubled d1' bent over the edge of M, in addition to its ompression by E, it

is so firmly held that no force can' separate the cloth from the other parts except by the destruct-ion of one or more ofthe parts. The

function of the part M is perfor-med 'by the edge thereof alone. The central portions of M are of no effect except in stifenihg the edge. If the edge is lnade suiicently stiif, the center of M may be removed, or rather the circular plate maybe replaced by an open rmg.

It is not essential to my inventionthat the eye be circular, although such form' appears, for some reasons, most convenient.

The partlt n iay, if desired, be made square or iuany other polygonal form and its edge or edges bent over upon D and M, which may be of a corresponding form.

The production of eyes in the form and having the cloth held in the manner shown will be easy to those familia-r with the art of lnittonqnaking. Its novel feature is produced by laying the disk or riug'represented by M u'pon the cloth D before tl1e latter is by the action of suitable dies folded or bent over inward and compressed by the edge of E. It is evident that the presence of M, assuming the pressureapplied to-foree down the edge ot' E to be equal, -Very greatly contributes to the firm union of the parts. In 'practice it is found that a gentle pressure upon E is suiiieient 1o hold the cloth when folded across the edge of M in this manner.

Having now fully described my invention,

what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, s-

he attachment of the flexible' material D to the rigid portion of the eye by holding it compressed across the edge of a part M, or its equivalent, substantially in the manner herein, Set forth. GEO. A. MEACHAM.

-Witnessesz THOMAS' D. Emerson, CHAS. W. SMITH. 

